5th Ave South shutdown an apparent case of 'swatting'

Police say the report of a man barricaded inside a room at the Inn on Fifth on 5th Avenue South in Naples turned out to be a hoax.

A 12-person SWAT team searched both hotel buildings but did not find anybody.

Investigators said they received a call of a man threatening to commit suicide and that he had two family members with him.

Police closed 5th Avenue South to traffic from 6th Street to US-41, but it has since been reopened. People are also being allowed back into the hotel.

Hotel staff said that kind of call has to be taken seriously, and the safety of their guests was their primary concern. They called each guest to find out if they were safe - and if they were away from the hotel, not to come back.

Then they helped police by looking through the computer to find out which rooms may be involved - but all the rooms were cleared and no one was found.

If you know who made the hoax call, you can remain anonymous and be eligible for a cash reward by calling Crime Stoppers at (800) 780-TIPS.

Now that we're getting into the second half of August, it's the the time of year when we really start to monitor the far eastern Atlantic for budding tropical waves that could potentially develop into tropical storms or hurricanes.